By ANN THARP
Special to The Leader
The Beebe Badgers were victorious at home Friday night over the Nettleton Raiders by a score of 53-36. Both Beebe and Nettleton were 3-3 going into the 5A-East contest, so with the victory, Beebe moves to 4-3 and 6-10 overall. Nettleton drops to 3-4 and 8-8.
The Badgers led at the end of one quarter 16-2 and maintained the lead throughout the game.
“We got off to a very good start,” said Beebe coach Ryan Marshall. “Tyler Childress continues to shoot the ball extremely well. We built that 16-point lead real early, and we never really faltered from it. We got extremely sloppy late. I just don’t think we were mentally sharp late because of maybe the score. We’ve got to clean that up a lot. The first half defensively, I thought we did a good job. We struggled late defending the drive at times. Overall, a good win.”
Beebe started the game with a pass from Tanner Chapman to Zach Baker for a dunk. Baker scored the next basket as well, followed by two three-pointers by Tyler Childress. Chapman sank 3 of 4 free throws that resulted from being fouled following steals to build the lead to 13-0 before Nettleton got on the board. Childress added his third three-pointer for a 16-2 Badger advantage at the end of one.
Chapman led the charge for Beebe in the second quarter with two traditional three-point plays plus another two-point basket and 4 of 4 freethrows for 12 points in the quarter. Baker added a two-pointer for 14 Badger points.
Nettleton scored 13 in the quarter for a 30-15 lead at intermission for the home team. The second half scoring was relatively close with Beebe scoring 23 points and the Raiders 21.
The first quarter’s commanding lead had done the damage, however, and the Badgers prevailed by the 53-36 final score. Baker led the second-half scoring with 10, and Childress added his fourth three-pointer and 3 of 4 free throws for six points.
Beebe was 13 of 18 from the free-throw line, while Nettleton shot 11 free throws and made eight. The rebounding by the teams was almost even, with Nettleton having a slight 25-23 edge.
Chapman led the Badgers in scoring with 19 points, Baker had 16 points and Childress added 15.
Hunter Smith had eight points and Silas Finch seven for the visitors.
